


Hungry

by SyconSenti



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: And it's not Grian for once, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pledge to protect this precious bean, Sometimes the angst just writes itself., Starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21756745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyconSenti/pseuds/SyconSenti
Summary: When I saw Grian and False's vids of finding that Keralis armour stand in the basement of the deadquarters, my angst cortex just stirred into overdrive and - oops.Basically it's that but actual Keralis instead of armour stand Keralis. And he's not in good shape.
Comments: 25
Kudos: 213





	Hungry

**Author's Note:**

> Completely typed and posted on my phone while I was meant to be sleeping, so tags may be fucky as idk how to get them to stick on mobile.

It was hard to keep track of time when one had no access to the sky. The only way Keralis knew of the days passing by was the ever-growing gnawing emptiness in his stomach. He had no idea how he got here, only remembering a sharp pain in the back of his head, then coming to, alone, half naked and shackled to a table. He'd waited patiently for whoever had caught him to appear, but when that never happened, he began to worry. No one was coming, he quickly realized. He'd been locked away to slowly starve to death.

For the first two days, he'd fought to free himself from the restraints, pulling and twisting until the skin of his wrists was raw and bleeding. But eventually, his energy ran out, so he instead lay still, hoping against hope that someone would find him. The exertion had quickly eaten any food reserves he had in his body, so he quickly went from feeling slightly hungry to completely famished. The desperate growling from his stomach left him unable to sleep, and the chains connected to his wrists were too short to allow him the ability to press his hands into his belly to soothe the hunger. So for an unknown amount of time, he endured it, cringing as every pang grew more painful that the last. Finally, mercifully, his stomach grew too empty to rumble anymore, and he closed his eyes for the first time in days and fell into an exhausted sleep. 

As time went on, the chains binding him to the table seemed to get heavier and heavier, and the air became ever more chilling against his bare skin. He shivered slightly from both hunger and the cold, and wondered just how long it would take for him to succumb to starvation, or if it was possible that someone would find him before it was too late. He understood that those who had already died had the duty to kill off those who were still alive, but this seemed to be an unnecessarily cruel way to go about it. The sharpening points of his bones resting against the hard table ached, as did his head and stomach. Some days, he found it hard to even breathe properly, as if a huge weight was crushing down on him. And it was just so _cold._ It was terrifying to be so helpless, so at the mercy of no one but his own body.

Keralis cracked an eye open and looked down at himself. The weeks of no food had left their mark on him, as his ribs stuck out plainly from his chest, and his abdomen had grown concave as his body cannibalized itself to keep him alive. He groaned softly and laid his head back, already exhausted from the simple movement, then once again began to think about food. It was a recurring problem now; as he starved, his mind always wandered to fantasies of the most delicious type. Yet in doing so, it made his stomach twist painfully with the realization it would never experience them. He tried his best to push the thoughts out of his mind, but they kept flooding back every time he did so. It was as he was drooling in one of these fantasies that some footsteps echoed from the doorway. A scared cry snapped him out of the daydream, and he blinked around to find the source, only to see the purple eyes of a dragon staring at him from across the room. The dragon turned to look back into the hallway, and cried out "False? Please come in here!" Another dragon poked it's head around the doorway, and it's eyes locked onto Keralis instantly.

"What is going on here?" It asked in shock.

"They just got a dungeon with Keralis in! Why've they got Keralis trapped here?" The first dragon ran towards the table, and Keralis kicked out a bit in a feeble attempt to get away. The dragon faltered for a moment when it saw his reaction, then held its hands out to show it meant no harm.

"It's me! Grian! I'm not here to hurt you. Why on earth are you here?" The snout turned slightly as Grian took in Keralis's condition.

"It looks like he hasn't eaten! Here you go Keralis…" He placed some golden carrots on the table, and Keralis looked looked down to the shackles on his wrists. The other dragon gasped and took out a pick, quickly using it to force the metal bands open and free him.

"Are they starving you, Keralis? I think he might be the next target, bro!" Grian turned to the other dragon.

"That's mean…" They growled as they finished breaking the chains. Keralis instantly shot his hands out to grab the carrots and stuff them in his face, but the dragon grabbed his wrists before he could get anywhere near them. He moaned slightly in protest, and wrapped his arms tightly around his middle instead.

"Why are you stopping him, False? He's hungry!" Grian asked.

"At this point his body won't be able to handle it." The other dragon answered. "It'll kill him." As they looked over his emaciated body, they took note of just how much Keralis was shivering, and slipped off their coat to wrap it around him. He leaned against them as they did so, smiling as he soaked in a little of their warmth.

"Is this Falsesymmetry?" He asked quietly. The dragon nodded and lifted him easily into her arms. 

"Come on, we have to get out of here, now." She ordered.

"Agreed." Grian quickly ran back out of the room, with False just behind him. He paused for a moment, then turned around.

"Where can we go though? The Dragon Bros headquarters are trapped, and we can't stay here!"

"I think my base is mostly safe. I can get food for Keralis there too." At the mention of food, Keralis shifted slightly in False's grip, and she tightened her hold on him as she hopped over the sprung trap at the door. He cringed at the sudden brightness of the sky after being indoors for so long.

"Do you think you can fly with him?" Grian asked her. False shrugged.

"Glide, yes, but using rockets no. Also you're taking the lead when it comes to possible traps." Grian rolled his eyes but did not argue. He hopped off the floating islands that the deadquarters were built on and floated down softly to the portal. False landed beside him, careful to not jolt Keralis too much, then nodded to Grian.

"After you." With a sigh, Grian stepped into the portal.

The longer it took them to make their way through the network of tunnels in the nether, the more worried False became. She knew that they had to get some sort of food into Keralis's starved body soon, but with the amount of time spent making sure none of them fell into any traps, she felt that he was slipping away from them too quickly. He was fast asleep against her shoulder by the time they were standing outside her personal portal, and she shifted him slightly so he had more support against her body. Grian lifted a pressure plate with his pick to check underneath for redstone, then let it drop with a soft thump. 

"All clear in this side." He reported, then proceeded to step into the purple swirls. False waited as he disappeared, then reappeared a few moments later.

"All clear on the other side too." False wasted no time in stepping through, and as soon as the ground solidified in the other side, she ran to the nearest bed and laid Keralis down on it. He opened his eyes slightly as she tucked the blankets around him, then smiled at her.

"You saved me!" He whispered almost inaudibly. Grian sat down beside him, his posture one of anger.

"Who did this to you?" He asked, trying to disguise the shake in his voice. Keralis shrugged weakly.

"I… got knocked out. Then I was just in that room. No one else appeared until you two." He explained. Grian rested his scaly chin on his hand thoughtfully as he considered the options. 

"No matter, food time." False called out from the other room. She reemerged from the doorway carrying a bowl and a spoon, and crouched by the bedside. Keralis instantly snapped his attention onto her.

"Do you think you can do this yourself?" She asked gently. He lifted his hand and looked at how much it was quivering, then shook his head.

"Okay." False simply said, dipping the spoon into the contents of the bowl. She brought it to Keralis's mouth, and he sipped the soup off of it. The feeling of the first food to pass his lips in weeks trickling into his empty stomach was almost heavenly, and it sent an intense feeling of joy all throughout his body. He enthusiastically accepted more and more until the bowl was empty, and when nothing else came his way, he opened his eyes to see where the food went.

"No more?" He asked. False shook her head, looking at him with empathy.

"Any more right now will be bad for you. Just… try to rest for a while, regain some strength. You can eat again later." Keralis looked at her pleadingly, but relented and closed his eyes again, snuggling into the bedsheets. 

"... False… Brian… Spank you… so so much..." He mumbled as he drifted off. False stayed by his side until the slow rhythmic rising and falling of his chest indicated he was asleep, then turned and walked out of the room. Grian was waiting in the doorway, a look of worry across his reptilian face.

"He's sleeping for now." She reported. "I'm going to keep him here, and put out an official request of no traps in my base." Grian nodded and smiled in relief. "You going to nurse him back to health? What if you… demise?" He asked.

"No change, I'll still help him. If it gets to the point where he's the only one alive because of our protection, we'll have to figure something out then, but until that point…" She sighed, looking angry.

"Who would do such a thing… I'm super glad you rose to Tango's challenge now, even more so you dragged me along. Was I 'Bro' enough?"

"Hey, we saved a fellow warmblood from starving to death alone in a mangy old dungeon… I'd say that's super 'Bro'!" Grian grinned back at her. She let out a chuckle, and smiled back to where Keralis was sleeping in the other room.

It was good to be a 'Bro'.


End file.
